As we head back to the northweast corner of South Korea today, a highlight of our journey looms – the visit to Soraksan National Park and the last of our hiking torture. But two things make me suspicious; (a) The autumn colours seem to far more accentuated today than on previous days (b) this is the […]
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The Suanbo bathhouse
Suanbo is a resort town with hot springs and ski slopes, set in the central hills. We managed to get a good deal on a couple of tired rooms in a tired hotel with an “oncheon” (Bath house) in the basement. The segregated pools were full at night so I thought a discrete plunge in […]
Chusok
It’s the annual homecoming festive season of “Chosuk” when Koreans head back to the small family communities that are their roots. From home and abroad they converge on the little villages and farms that are where they originate from. There are the burial mounds of their ancestors are located and Chosuk sees all the family […]
Another ‘Bike and Hike’ Day
Dave you don’t know what you’re missing, we’re getting disgustingly fit, mixing mountain hikes with a motorcycle ride. They certainly make for an exhausted team at the end of the day but by abandoning the bikes and taking to the slopes we get another perspective on the history of the place as well as having […]
Oh No, Not Another Hiking Day
Another mountain, another National Park. This time, another with Sharman origins (reminding us of our visit to Penis Park earlier in the tour), Chilgapsan provided just too many mountain trails for us to contemplate with our knees still in a fragile state left from the hikes to date. So instead we opted for a lunch […]
Dynastic Capitals
Gonjiu and Buyo, two cities in the west of South Korea are capitals of the Baekje Dynasty, one of the dynasties along with Shilla and Goguryeo during the Three Kingdoms Period. Visiting tombs and fortresses of this period – from 50BC to 700 AD – one gets an appreciation of how revered this period is […]
Bits and pieces
Weather here has been great. No rain yet, but air pollution is pretty awful near major towns. Major public holiday here. The Koreans will all be in the hills bowing at burial mounds on the hill-sides tomorrow morning, should be spectacular as they all dress in traditional gear. My knees feel stuffed after the hill climbs. Some […]
Dave has gone.
I know we have told you this. In a moment of weakness I said I’d show him the way to Seoul from Taejon (Daejon), its only about 160 km. Brendan said I couldn’t get back on my own so the three of us went. Took us 5 hours one way, and we didn’t get lost […]
Taedensan Mountain and Sadness
We’ve managed to get to one of the more iconic and spectacular National Parks today – Taedasan, just outside of Daejon, the sixth largest city in the ROK. For climbing in this park you take a gondola to the foot of the mountainm. And then things get spectacular – up rock steps and steel ladders […]
Turtle Ships
We’re down on Namhae Island, at the very bottom of South Korea. Its claim to fame is that this is where Admiral Yi, the country’s greatest ever mariner, scored his unexpected victory over the Japanese invaders in 1598 and brought to end their occupation of the peninsula. Against all odds his fleet of 12 ships […]
